Page 62 of The Lost Story of Sofia Castello

61

LISBON, 1941

Being in the music business, Alexandre was of course a night owl and had only been asleep for about an hour when we arrived, pounding on his front door. After what felt like forever, the door opened and a tousle-headed Alexandre stared out at us.

‘We need your help,’ I said, barging past him and dragging Judith with me.

‘Sofia! But… but why aren’t you on the plane to London?’ he stammered.

We went into the living room, and Alexandre stared at Judith, who, it had to be said, was a strange sight in her oversized dress and overly made-up face.

‘And who is this?’

‘My friend Rose.’ I sat down on the sofa and hugged myself to try to stop from trembling as the reality of what had happened started to sink in. When we’d been at the airport in the pitch-dark, it had all felt like a surreal dream, but now I was back in Lisbon and daylight was pouring in through the large sash window, reality hit me with the force of a freight train. The Germans were plotting to kill me in London, which meant that Trafalgar had to be involved and was luring me into a trap. Or, rather, he’d tried to. I gave Judith a grateful smile and gestured at her to sit beside me.

Alexandre made a pot of coffee, and I told him what had happened, omitting the part about my helping the SOE and telling him instead that the Germans must be trying to kill me because of my obvious support for the Allies. The less he knew, the less danger he’d be in.

‘I need to get away,’ I said, once I’d finished the tale. ‘When the Gestapo find out I wasn’t on the plane, they’re going to come looking for me. And it’s not just my life at stake now.’ I gave him a pointed look and placed my hand protectively on my stomach.

Alexandre nodded gravely. ‘Of course.’

‘I need somewhere to hide out until the war is over. Somewhere I can have the baby and not be discovered.’

‘The baby?’ Judith cried.

‘I’ll explain later,’ I said, feeling sick yet again as I thought of Trafalgar. In his plan to kill me, he would have killed his own child. ‘At least my going into hiding will deal with the problem of people finding out about my pregnancy,’ I quipped weakly, but Alexandre didn’t smile.

‘This is terrible,’ he said, looking shell-shocked. ‘They must have seen your performances in London as an act of support for the Allies, but even so…’ He began pacing the room. ‘OK, I need to think of somewhere for you to go. And I need to come up with a story to explain your disappearance. Maybe I’ll say that you’re suffering from exhaustion. You have been working flat out for the last couple of years. You could go to my place up in the mountains at first. It’s very secluded and would buy us some time to find you something better.’

‘OK.’ I felt a slight relief at the thought of being away from Lisbon.

‘But we need to wait until tonight,’ Alexandre said. ‘Better to drive up there under the cover of darkness.’

I nodded. ‘That makes sense.’

‘Well, there’s no way I’ll be going back to sleep now.’ He smiled. ‘Let’s have some breakfast.’

We went into the kitchen, and while Alexandre made us some more coffee and toast and eggs, I told him a cock-and-bull story about ‘Rose’ and how we’d become friends. It was far too dangerous to tell him the truth – for him and for Judith.

We’d just finished breakfast when the phone began to ring. Alexandre hurried into the living room to take it.

‘Good morning, Fatima,’ I heard him say. ‘No, I’m afraid I’m not going to be in today; I’m not feeling too good. I— What?’ My ears pricked up at his sudden change of tone. ‘What do you mean?’ he exclaimed. ‘Oh my God! Yes, yes, I’ll be there in an hour.’

Alexandre returned to the kitchen, ashen-faced.

‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,’ I joked.

‘I have,’ he replied. ‘In fact, I’m looking at one right now.’

I felt a sudden chill. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You.’ His voice wavered, and he sat down. ‘The plane you were meant to be on has gone missing. And there are reports that the Germans shot it down.’